For many men, getting a custom-made suit to wear on their wedding day may seem like an extravagance. But there’s no reason the groom’s suit shouldn’t fit just as well, and be as flattering, as what the bride is wearing. “There are hundreds of little micro-adjustments and details that we can make in the tailoring process that go a long way in making a suit complement your body rather than just cover it,” says Trapper Roderick, president of the Lehi-based True Gentleman Custom Suits. To get a suit you’ll want to wear years after the wedding reception ends, visit one of these bespoke custom suit shops in Utah.
Beckett & Robb 834 E 9400 S Suite 65, Sandy 801-415-9434
It’s that time of the year again, when the industry’s most inspired designers put their bridal visions on full display. Some offer forward-thinking silhouettes that set the tone for the future of fashion, while other designers revisit classic styles and traditional textures that have long held their place in the bridal community. The sheer number of bridal gowns that walked down the runway this season is more than overwhelming, lucking we’ve done all the legwork for you. After scouring dozens of look books and sitting in on live fashion streams, we’ve narrowed it down to our top favorite spring 2023 wedding gowns.
Creative Director and Designer Madeline Gardner’s describes her bridal brand in three words “iconic, romantic, timeless.” Known for her romantic flowing ball gowns, contoured mermaid silhouettes and classic A-line styles, the gowns in her 2023 Morilee collection are made with the classic bride in mind. Whimsical layered tulle and 3D lace appliqués deliver a fairytale-like quality to some dresses, and several gowns featured trendy off-shoulder sleeves. The designer also added new dresses to the existing The Other White Dress Collection, a line embodying effortless sophistication and sleek style.
Inspired by the luxe and charm of a southern wedding, Sareh Nouri’s 2023 is a southern belle’s dream. Floral lace patterns, layered tulle skirts and hand-embroidered bodices define this collection, and reflect a love for classic silhouettes with modern styling. Best said by the brand themselves, “we truly feel that any bride that wears a Sareh Nouri gown will forever radiate a sense of poise and confidence that will transcend time!”
Since launching her bridal brand in 2012, Dana Harel has become known for her unique use of avant-garde materials like leather, crystal beading and embroidery, and her 2023 collection displays exactly that. Named “Acqua,” the collection was inspired by 18th century gowns that Harel has reinterpreted to give a Mediterranean twist. Flowing tulle and delicate beadwork display oceanic motifs that are further dramatized by the stunning Israeli sea backdrop.
Mira Zwillinger’s 2023 line, “Wonders,” is made of 13 delicate gowns exhibiting a harmonious blend of abstract shapes and sleek silhouettes. Each distinct feature works to culminate in one impactful fashion statement, representing the line’s underlying theme of unity. “The ultra-fine elements move freely and effortlessly symbolically expressing how unity can uplift through strength,” the brand states.
In her 2023 collection, Wonderland, Ines Di Santo reflects on her childhood spent traveling and studying abroad. “With this collection I tried to recreate the mischievous sense of wonder I experienced,” says Di Santo. “I approached the gowns with the same sense of playfulness I feel when revisiting those memories.” Di Santo realizes her vision with dramatic skirt trains and pops of pastels that deliver a touch of whimsy to the collection. Although bold and spirited, the designer ties the collection together with recurring hand-embroidered beading.
Visions of smoke-filled jazz clubs where singers serenade crowds under a hazy spotlight became the inspiration for AMSALE’s spring 2023 collection. To emulate those silvery figures, the designer delicately places nocturnal blooms of moonflower and Queen of the Night across bodices and sleeves. Combined with sculptural silhouettes and milky white hues, each gown represents a rare flower blooming in the night.
MARISOLFRIDAESTENOOR
See our favorite gowns from the 2021 New York Luxury Bridal Fashion week here!
Surya & Preet The Grand America Hotel, Sept. 1st Photography by Rebekah Westover
THE BEGINNING
Surya, who grew up in Salt Lake City, and Preet, who is from Sioux Falls, S.D., met as college students at Duke University. Surya first caught Preet’s eye in their shared second-year organic chemistry class. Study dates soon evolved into actual dates and eventually adventures throughout North Carolina. The couple spent the rest of their undergraduate days at Duke as college sweethearts, even adding another member to their “family” during senior year: Tyus, the couple’s beloved Labrador retriever.
THE PROPOSAL
After both earning undergraduate degrees, the couple continued their education together at Duke University’s School of Medicine. Once they completed their first semester in medical school, Preet surprised Surya with a holiday getaway to Paris. On the last morning of their stay, Preet brought Surya to Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge along the Seine River in Paris, made famous by the many locks placed on the bridge by partners and lovers. There, Preet got down on one knee and asked Surya to spend the rest of her life with him.
THE WEDDING CELEBRATION
The couple chose to host a traditional Hindu wedding — in a vibrant red, pink, orange and purple color palette — at the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. The wedding day began in the hotel’s large courtyard beneath a mandap, or wedding arch, custom made for the space. Beneath the mandap’s flowing rose-colored canopy flocked with roses, peonies and carnations, Surya and Preet were married by Sri. Satish Kumar Nivarthi, priest with the Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple of Utah. Surya wore a stunning gold and fuchsia sari while Preet was dressed in a beige sherwani with gold detailing. Following the ceremony, Preet rode a ghodi, or white horse, down 600 South surrounded by the wedding party, his and Surya’s families and hundreds of wedding guests. During the procession, staff at The Grand America transformed the courtyard into a large outdoor dining room with white tablecloth-dressed tables, gold bamboo dining chairs and grand floral and candelabra centerpieces. For dinner, Surya changed into a brilliant gold-embroidered off-the-shoulder gown while Preet donned a crisp dark-blue suit. Wedding guests were served several traditional Indian dishes including chicken tikka masala, paneer tikka masala, palak paneer and naan. Dessert was a four-tier wedding cake with layers of lemon poppyseed cake covered with strawberry cream cheese frosting and other layers of chocolate and vanilla-flavored cake with chocolate ganache frosting.
THE DANCE PARTY
After dinner, guests moved inside to the Grand America’s ballroom. There Leslie Price, with Leslie Dawn Events, used pink and purple mood lighting, clusters of vibrantly clad pillows, lanterns and urns full of floating flowers and candles to create a festive, Bollywood-inspired landscape. Guests danced and mingled long into the night to music provided by DJ Elliott Estes. After the ceremony, Surya and Preet honeymooned in the Maldives and then returned to North Carolina to finish medical school.
Spring is the perfect time for a wedding, when nature is starting to stir and everything is fresh and new. What better way to share the joy of your own new beginning than by treating your guests to a sensational spring wedding menu?
The secret to planning an incredible wedding menu is actually simple. Just remember: Food is only as good as its ingredients. If you design your menu around fresh, local, in-season ingredients, you will elevate the meal into an unforgettable feast. Here’s a fresh look at nine amazing Utah ingredients that are at their best right now.
Carrots are Earth’s gems waiting to be discovered! If you grew up thinking that carrots are orange, it’s time for a lesson. The orange varieties found in school lunches and grocery shelves are modern strains that were bred for their appearance, yield, and shelf-life, but not necessarily for flavor. For centuries, carrots have been purple, yellow, red, white, or even black. Older strains of carrots, called heirlooms, offer an amazing variety of flavors and colors, and spring is the ideal time to taste them for yourself!
It’s also the ideal season for baby carrots, which are not the shaved carrot nuggets you see in the store. True baby carrots are harvested while they’re still immature, so they taste amazingly fresh and sweet. Braised, sautéed, or roasted, they complement a huge range of entrees, or are astonishingly good on their own.
Fiddlehead ferns
These delightful little delicacies have curled fronds that look like the head of a violin. Fresh and slightly nutty tasting, they can make a unique substitute for asparagus or green beans. They’re only available for a short time in the spring, but they’re wonderful on pasta, rice, or risotto, especially paired with fish. Their unusual appearance and taste gives any entree an extra classy touch.
Grilled Rocky Mountain trout with strawberry pico de gallo, broccolini, and arugula garnish. Photo courtesy of Culinary Crafts.
Rocky Mountain Trout
Among the trifecta of wedding entrees “chicken, steak, or fish,” the one that spikes in popularity in the spring is fish. As the weather warms, people want to get away from the heavy comfort foods of winter. There’s no better way to keep your main protein light and fresh than with Rocky Mountain Trout. A healthy choice, trout pairs beautifully with other spring ingredients like mushrooms, greens, and (believe it or not) strawberry salsa.
Strawberries
Sure, you can find strawberries year-round, but they’re never as delicious as they are in the spring. These beautiful symbols of love are gorgeous in salads, pastries, charcuterie boards, and a million different desserts. You could base your whole menu around strawberries! (We’d crash that wedding.)
Strawberry-rhubarb semifreddo with candied dried rhubarb, pistachio crumble, and edible flowers. Photo courtesy of Culinary Crafts.
Rhubarb
Rhubarb is one of the first spring plants to appear. If you peel it and douse it with salt, rhubarb can be enjoyed as a raw, mouth-puckering treat straight out of the ground. But there are far better ways to do rhubarb. Its strong, tangy flavor complements strawberries in almost any dessert you can imagine, but it also makes a great balance to caramel, vanilla, cream, orange, honey—anything sweet. Or you can enjoy it in a goat cheese crostini or a seasonal cocktail. It’s a super fun ingredient to play with.
Asparagus
Asparagus is one of our absolute favorite spring ingredients because it’s delicious and so easy to prepare. All it takes is a little olive oil, salt, and pepper—roast it in the oven and voila! In restaurants you’ll often see asparagus smothered in some kind of sauce. We have nothing against sauces except that they’re sometimes used as a crutch when the underlying ingredients aren’t great. Use fresh, quality asparagus and your guests will be amazed at how sensational this simple ingredient tastes on its own. We only ask you refrain from steaming or blanching asparagus; that just makes it waterlogged.
Four-way mushroom duxelle topped with spring morels and chervil. Photo courtesy of Culinary Crafts
Morels and other wild mushrooms
Mushrooms are finicky and seasonal, so there are some kinds you’ll find only in the spring. If you’re a mushroom fan, you probably know that Utah is rich in both wild and domesticated shrooms. Each edible variety, from morels and chanterelle to pig’s ear and puff balls, has its own flavor spectrum. Thrown into pasta, served with asparagus and spring onions, or paired with fish or beef (or lamb, a traditional “spring” meat), mushrooms bring a flavorful punch to your spring wedding menu. Just leave it to the pros to decide which ones are safe to serve!
Pea greens
Also known as pea shoots or pea tendrils, these are the vines of young pea plants. They have a sweet, mild flavor, and are abundant in the spring, which means this is when you can get them cheap! They add a nutritious and delicious crunch to salads, cold soups, or sandwiches, or they can make a fun garnish.
French brioche with crème fraîche, berries, and edible pansy blossoms. Photo courtesy of Culinary Crafts.
Edible flowers
To give your wedding table a stunning splash of spring color, add edible flowers. Snapdragons, petunias, dianthus, and pansies are available locally in the spring. They’re an easy way to add elegance and beauty to any dish or drink.
The big “secret” to planning a sensational spring wedding menu is no secret at all. Just make the most of what we already have here in abundance: delicious, fresh, in-season ingredients. Treat your guests to Utah’s best ingredients and we guarantee they’ll be talking about the food for years to come.
See more top wedding menu tips from our friends at Culinary Crafts here!
Your love story is something that is entirely ‘you,’ and your happily-ever-after should be just as unique. No two weddings should be exactly alike. Hoopes Events follows that motto to create events with your personality at their very heart.
Hoopes is different from many in the industry: they don’t have a particular style of wedding they produce. Whether you’re looking for an intimate, rustic mountain ceremony or a lavish beach wedding calling for Hoopes’s official Sandals and Beaches certification, their main goal is always to make your wedding vision come to life.
“The Hoopes Events style is to take the lifestyle of our couple and turn that into their perfect wedding,” says Tonya Hoopes, owner. “We believe in creating those unique special touches that have significance and meaning for each couple.” For more than a decade, her diverse team of planners has been creating events that showcase what makes your romance so special.
Investing in a talented and qualified wedding team is the key to a stress-free wedding, as well as a sure way to make your event one that you and your loved ones will never forget. But that doesn’t mean breaking the wedding budget.
Photo by Jordan Bree.
“Just as each and every wedding is unique, so is every budget,” says Hoopes. “We do not try to fit our clients into a package. At the end of the day, we want our clients to be happy, comfortable and to feel good about working with our team.” Having a planner that knows which vendors fit your personality and budget, can handle the small details of your big day and are prepared to take your vision from the drawing board to reality really is priceless.
Owner Tonya Hoopes.
“I am so inspired by each of my clients as I hear stories of how they met, where they work, details of their personal lives and so much more,” Hoopes says. “I love following them through the rest of their life milestones; it brings joy into our days and reminds me of why my team works hard to ensure our clients special day is all about them!” —Tonya Hoopes, Owner.
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WHAT’S AHEAD:
The year 2022 is bringing a wedding boom: We can’t wait! Although Hoopes Events isn’t raising our maximum number of clients, we are eager to finally return to fulfilling our couples’ fairy tale visions and party plans at the highest level this season.
EXCITED ABOUT:
Never, ever shy away from bold colors–we can’t wait to paint meaningful events with the whole rainbow this wedding season. We’re especially head-over-heels for the Color of the Year: Very Peri, a joyful violet shade representing new beginnings.
FRESH IDEAS:
A wedding to remember is all about personal touches. Whether it’s a special dessert from their first date or a dance number from a ballerina bride, we love finding special moments that bring guests closer to the romance.
107 East Fort Union Blvd., Midvale | 435-414-0090
We’ve featured Hoopes Weddings and Event in our magazine before. Get more wedding planning advice from them here!
It’s no secretthat weddings are not environmentally friendly. From the thousands of airline miles required to gather far-flung friends and family to single-use wedding attire to exotic floral décor and imported food and drink, the carbon footprint for even a modest event can be significant. But we submit that celebrating love is perhaps more important now than ever. As such, we’ve gathered a few ideas for planning a memorable nuptial celebration that minimizes the next-day carbon guilt.
Instead of serving (carbon) heavy meat at your rehearsal dinner and reception, choose a creative plant-based menu sure to make no one miss the protein. If meat is a must, however, ask your caterer to use a local purveyor like Niman Ranch or Mary Free-Range Chicken. “Utah food producers have come a long way in the last several years,” says Emery Lortsher, owner of The Blended Table Catering. “It’s possible during most times of the year to serve your guests a fantastic meal that’s 100% locally sourced.” (The Blended Table composts all its food waste in its on-site digester—this includes removing food waste from the venues they serve.)
While sending your invites electronically through a company like blissandbone.com or greenvelope.com is certainly the greenest option for an eco-friendly wedding, Miriam Footer from The Write Image believes digital invites aren’t taken as seriously as a paper invitation. “They tend to get lost in the bottomless pit of our email in-boxes and couples end up spending a lot of time chasing RSVPs,” she says. An eco-conscious paper alternative is Bella Figura, a stationery printer that both employs earth-friendly manufacturing practices and prints artistic invitation suites on paper made from cotton fibers reclaimed from the garment industry.
3. RENT YOUR WEDDING DRESS OR PURCHASE A VINTAGE ONE
Several factors contribute to the unsustainability of wedding dresses, from how the fabric is produced to carbon expended to get them here from overseas. (Have dreams of your future daughter one day wearing your dress? In reality, only a small fraction of wedding dresses have multigenerational appeal.) Consider renting a dress—Provo’s Something Borrowed Bridal rents wedding dresses for $300 to $600 and has more than 800 gowns to choose from—or purchasing a gently loved vintage dress from Lovers Bridal in Salt Lake City, stockists of bridal designs from the 1920s to 2000s.
Read our tips for planning a family-friendly wedding weekend here!
Purple is, perhaps, one of the most overlooked hues. Regal to romantic, it is also one of the most versatile. From deep plum to the softest lilac, purple can imbue a celebration with depth, originality and an unexpected exuberance. Brittny Hart, founder and principal of Love Brittny Photography, used this timeless color to create an unforgettable wedding scene at The White Shanty in Provo.
AN APT CANVAS
Airy and light-filled, The White Shanty provides a clean and contemporary backdrop for just about any wedding theme, but it fosters a design as soft and romantic as this one particularly well. Built in the 1940s as a steel fabrication plant, The White Shanty is now a dedicated celebration venue with seating capacity for 120 guests. Its exposed and white-washed interior is complemented by Edison-bulb light fixtures, hanging and potted plants, round-bulb string lights and an impressive square steel chandelier. Floor-to-ceiling sliding barn doors, installed with French casement windows, seamlessly allow for an indoor-outdoor event while reinforcing The White Shanty’s industrial-chic ambience.
ROOM WITH A HUE
“I think people are afraid of purple,” Hart says. “I wanted to show how soft and modern in can be when used in a wedding context.” Hart embraced this inspiring color with stunning results. She set the tone from the start with lavender invitation envelopes. On the tables, lilac-hued napkins, table-runner embellishment and candles play a supporting role to the just-picked bouquet, whimsical goblets and stunning macaron “cake.”
THE PRINCESS BRIDE
Hart clearly establishes the bride as the leading lady of this fairy tale-like setting by outfitting her in a flowing handkerchief-hem dress with an applique-embroidered bodice, tulle overlay and deep-V back. Light and dewy makeup and a loose, beachy-wave hairstyle complete the modern-princess look. “Can’t you just see this bride running through a meadow with this dress on?” Hart asked. “I think it complements the theme perfectly.” The final, crowning touch to this storybook scene is the stunning custom-made, 14K rose-gold ring. It boasts vine detail, six sparkling natural diamonds and a mesmerizing amethyst center stone.
In locales like India and Italy, multiday weddings have been the norm for generations. But here in the U.S., extending nuptial celebrations beyond the actual wedding day has caught on just within the last several years. The pandemic’s curtailing of gatherings is one reason for this trend, so for many, this year may be the first time in two years or longer they will finally feel comfortable traveling or attending a large gathering. Another reason many are embracing a wedding weekend is that the six or so hours that span most wedding ceremonies and receptions is simply not long enough for couples to connect with each one of their guests. Hosting a two-, three- or even five-day celebration also allows extended members of the couple’s families to really get to know and enjoy one another.
The key to a meaningful wedding weekend, however, is providing your guests with fun and accessible things to do. Following is a roundup of distinctly Utah activities that will make your extended wedding celebration one your guests will talk about fondly for years to come.
EXCURSIONS APPROPRIATE FOR ALL, FROM GRANDPARENTS TO TODDLERS
Photo courtesy of Snowbird
CATCHING A RIDE TO 11,000 FEET
There’s a 2,900-foot elevation difference between Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort’s base area and its highest point at Hidden Peak. But just about anyone can make it to that heady vantage point, thanks to the Tram. Rides are open to the public daily or for large groups by reservation.
TOUCHING THE VOID
Pick up lunch for the group in Moab at Sweet Cravings Bakery & Bistro and drive the 35-ish miles to the Dead Horse Point Overlook. There, claim a few of the first-come, first-served picnic tables with a view of the Colorado River 2,000 feet below framed by Canyonlands National Park’s spires and red rock in the distance.
RIDING THE RAILS
Book tickets on the Heber Valley Railroad’s Lakeside Limited for a scenic, two-hour tour along the shores of Deer Creek reservoir and the bucolic Heber Valley. Refreshments are available for purchase on the train; be sure to request seats in the same car when booking group reservations.
Did you know the next few years are expected to be a wedding boom? See what the experts have to say here.
It’s 2022 and, gratefully, most of the cancellations, adjustments and compromises engaged couples were forced to make in 2020 are in the rearview mirror, right? Well, maybe not. The pandemic year pause triggered a nuptial wave that, according to the market research firm The Wedding Report, is just now peaking: 1.9 million couples married in 2021, 2.5 million couples are planning to tie the knot this year—the most the U.S. has seen since 1984—and 2.24 more will wed in 2023. (For context, 2.1 million weddings were held in both 2018 and 2019.) In short, the intense demand for venues and services, combined with labor shortages and broken supply chains, have thrown typical wedding planning timelines and processes out the window.
All that said, couples can still have the wedding of their dreams, as long as they are willing to make decisions quickly, be less specific and, most importantly, have patience. So says three of Utah’s top wedding planners: Michelle Cousins with Michelle Leo Events, Fuse Weddings & Events’ Mara Mazdzer and Tonya Hoopes of Hoopes Events.
Choosing a wedding date other than a Saturday—particularly in June, July or August—is a piece of advice echoed by all three of these planners. “Most of those coveted weekend dates are already booked into 2023,” Cousins says. “By looking at a midweek date or even a Sunday, couples are more likely to be able to have that summer wedding they want. Or think about having a fall wedding—Utah is gorgeous in September and October.”
Once you’ve landed on a date and a venue, line up and sign vendors as quickly as possible. “To use a football analogy,” Mazdzer says, “you need to get all your players—the caterer, florist, photographer, band or DJ, etc.—on the bench and then we can figure out the plays, or the details, later. In this high-demand climate, if you hesitate just a few days, then those vendors get booked by someone else.”
Supply chain interruptions have hit florists particularly hard. When considering flowers, avoid focusing on specific species. “In this post-COVID world, sometimes floral shipments don’t arrive on time, or at all, to the wholesalers,” Hoopes says. “When interviewing a florist, ask how they handle substitutions. Ask them about alternates in the same color and texture of your first choice that will work with other flowers being used.”
Lastly, hire a wedding planner. Wedding planning is stressful under normal circumstances, and, when taking all the current challenges into consideration, it can be downright frustrating. “We have established relationships with venue managers and vendors and can land bookings much more efficiently than couples can on their own,” Cousins says. “But couples should know that this is a very unusual time. It took superhuman perseverance for the wedding industry across the country to pull off 2021, and we’re expecting to be even busier this year. We are here to help. We just ask for a little patience. And, please, be nice.
An invitation sets the tone for the celebration. It whets your appetite and elevates anticipation. And when it’s hand-crafted by experts, it’s a gesture of love you can hold in your hand. The artists at Ann Elizabeth Print Studio create meaningful invitations that give guests a tiny glimpse of what’s to come and something that can be saved and cherished for years to come.
The studio’s owner, Ann Jager, wants wedding clients to truly enjoy the tactile experience of creating a paper suite. “Paper is made from all types of fibers including cotton, wood, bamboo and plants,” says Gabby Perkins, customer service specialist. “Some particles will leave uneven bumps or leftover specks.” Jager encourages her clients to embrace the imperfections that make the invitations as unique as the couple.
“The overall impression makes an invitation special—how the guests receive it, open it and thumb through each piece,” says Jager. “That’s why we’re so particular about pairing the right paper with the right printing method.”
Once the product is approved and ready for production, a printing specialist works closely with the design team to make sure everything is perfect. Then, every single piece goes through a rigorous quality check.
“We’re very hands-on throughout the entire process,” explains Jenner Lehr, customer service specialist and director of marketing. “This may sound crazy, but humans are actually operating the machines. The design team touches, feels and visually approves every piece. Printing is truly a craft.”
Planning an event can be stressful, so the team does everything it can to make the design experience seamless, easy and fun. “Our customer service specialists are warm and responsive,” says Jager. “Our clients feel like friends by the end of the process.” If you want to make a statement for your next gathering, begin with a customized invitation.
“We work to learn everything we can about our clients, from their likes and dislikes, to their pets’ names and how they organize their spice drawers. Every detail matters when it comes to designing their custom suites.” — ANN Jager, OWNER.
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WHAT’S AHEAD
Personalized envelopes take your guests’ experience from mere anticipation to love at first sight. The studio offers hand calligraphy services and custom printed envelopes, and works with clients to find the perfect font to insert their personal style into the suite from the moment guests lay eyes on it.
EXCITED ABOUT
Since custom postage is no longer a thing, we’re really excited to see more clients using vintage postage stamps as an alternative. Vintage postage stamps are the perfect way to add a personal touch to a paper suite, giving an envelope character and surprise.
FRESH IDEAS
Design trends continue to ebb and flow, so save or pin what you love online. For example, a traditional-style invitation could be refreshed with modern typography or, instead of the traditional natural white paper with colored ink, try using colored paper.
4970 South 900 East, Suite F-105, SLC | 801-262-3605
There’s a lot to think about when planning a wedding. We’re here to help.
